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A white football coach is accusing the college's president and athletic director of firing him this week because of the color of his skin.
Ted Bahhur, who was fired Tuesday by Clark Atlanta University, made the allegation against president Carlton Brown and AD Tamica Jones in a racial-discrimination complaint filed Friday with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, lawyer Ed Gadrix told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Gadrix said Bahhur's EEOC complaint documents "a wide series of events that have taken place that have tried to force him out on racial grounds."
Brown, who is black, did not return messages left Friday, the newspaper reported. In an e-mail message, Jones, who is also black, wrote that she had no comment.
| "I want everybody to know that that school is a great institution. This is a couple rotten apples in the school that want to treat people different." |
| — Ted Bahhur |
After inheriting a team that had lost 39 of 43 games, Bahhur went 20-29, including 6-5 last season — the team's first winning record since 1991. A three-game losing streak has dropped Clark Atlanta to 3-3 this fall.
On Thursday, Jones told the paper that "expectations for the team are not W's and L's as they are that we have a responsibility to commit to our young men, as well. That's where we were most lacking."
Bahhur alleges he was asked questions in meetings and embarrassed by Brown and Jones in ways that black coaches were not.
Bahhur also took exception to Jones' questions about his commitment to the players. He said graduation rates improved during his tenure, estimating that 15 of the roughly 25 seniors graduated last spring, two more have since completed requirements and an additional two are on track to complete degree work this spring.
Bahhur said he has also raised money for renovated facilities, including the locker room, weight room and coaches office.
"I want everybody to know that that school is a great institution," Bahhur said. "This is a couple rotten apples in the school that want to treat people different."
